Like it or not, Calgary is the city in which we live, and it’s the city that brought us all together. Sure, considering what’s going on up North to Alberta’s tar sands and the knowledge that by living here one is – in at least some way – attached to the disastrous oil machine, it’s sometimes hard to feel all that proud about it. But, it’s still important to look back at the good things that have come out of Calgary from time to time, right? Good things like Jann Arden, which leads to even better things like our new side project MANN HARDEN. And so, we give to you, our non-Calgary friends who doubtlessly missed our one and only show, MANN HARDEN (all songs by Jann Arden). (Foon on mandobird, Annalea on drums, Peter on guitar, Kenna on guitar, Mark on violin). This one’s for you, Calgary.
part of me hopes you’re kidding……and part of me doesn’t…..
hope you’re all rocking the free world.
cheers, jann
part of us is kidding. and part of us isn’t.
next time you play calgary, MANN HARDEN is opening!
Like it or not, being linked to oil isn’t all bad. In fact, the money from oil is what will be the catalyst for positive change, and Calgary/Alberta is on the leading edge of that change, as we Albertans have often been in Canada’s (and even the World’s) history. Check-out some of that history, and you might better understand Albertans (as you sound like you’re not originally from here).
You’d be wrong about that — we’re all but one of us born and raised Calgarians. The positive kickbacks from a prosperous oil industry aside (such as a supposedly “better” education offered at the province’s Universities — never mind the U of C’s recent announcement of increasing tuition up to 47% this year), there’s no reason whatsoever that what’s happening to the once-gorgeous expanses of the Northern tar sands is happening. For decades, during this history that you’re referring to, the supplies in the tar sands were considered too difficult to extract, an insane expense of energy, natural resources, and money. But, what’s happening now? One of the world’s finest natural areas is being torn to shreds. I fail to see how that puts us anywhere on the “leading edge” of positive environment change linked to the oil industry.
Having worked as an environmental consultant for years, I know where we (as Albertans) stand in the field of environmental responsibility and action. We are leaders, and will continue to be into the future. Also, I know there is nothing I can say to change your mind, so we will just have to wait-and-see. I’m curious, though: Have you ever actually been to the area you describe? Not to diminish the importance of wetlands and other pre-existing ecosystems in the area, but there is not a whole lot of “beauty” up there. We, as humans are going to make an impact on this earth simply by our very existance. The size can certainly be better kept to a minimum, but our impact will be felt long after we disappear (hopefully, into the stars). Having grown-up in a city, it’s easy to disconnect from the realities of our relationship with nature. Maybe you should go up and wade through the muskeg this summer and get a better sense of the land…
Leaders, hey? I can’t tell you how often a friend and I have sat ourselves down on a street corner with an ice cream and counted just how many SUVs have gone by with a solitary passenger in them (we once made it to 100, before a car with two people came past). A large number of my friends around the world also expressed shock when I announced that we finally got curb-side recycling here in Calgary just this past year.
As for you changing my mind, you won’t. I’m surprised that anyone classifying themselves as an “environmental consultant” would ever type a sentence as ridiculous as “Not to diminish the importance of wetlands and other pre-existing ecosystems in the area, but there is not a whole lot of ‘beauty’ up there.” Seriously? Let me get this straight: You’re suggesting we forget about these wetlands and ecosystems in the area because you don’t think it’s beautiful? Shame on you, Ira. All natural areas play a precious role in the ecosystem – to me, there’s nothing more gorgeous than large expanses of Earth that have remained un-touched by man for millions of years. They’re few and far between. How dare we enter them, pillage the land, and then retreat back to the cities?
I haven’t been to the area that’s presently being damaged, but I have done my own research into what parts of it presently look like (check the aerial shots shown in the film HOME, which you can watch in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject – they actually made me feel ill to my stomach). While I did indeed grow up in a city, my connection with nature is one that I’ve spent a lifetime developing. You seem to suggest that I’m viewing things through a “disconnect from the realities of our relationship with nature,” but I never once forget that relationship is one in which we each have and make choices within. Alberta’s making a choice to destroy areas that shouldn’t be destroyed, and despite your suggestions otherwise, I CHOOSE not to stay silent on that, and I CHOOSE to make as small an impact as I can.
I do not own a car, nor do I want one. Calgary’s a big city, but I can cycle across it in a couple of hours if I need to. I do not buy food products whose packaging I cannot recycle. It’s not out of Canadian nationalism that I focus first on purchasing things made in my home country either — it’s about transport of those items, and even some further desire to be closer connected to the land where I live. I keep a garden in my backyard, as well as a large compost. I look forward to installing solar panels on my home by this summer. Woodpigeon has toured extensively through Europe without a vehicle, instead traveling by rail (and in the process, I’ve been interviewed by more than one publication on sustainable touring – in full realization that we do indeed FLY over the ocean to make it happen, but take other steps to reduce our impact once we’ve arrived).
Yes, “humans are going to make an impact on this earth simply by our very existance [sic],” Ira, but we can help determine what that impact is by the choices we make.
As for wading the Muskeg, I’d love to … before “environmental consultants” like yourself determine it’s A-OK for them to vanish from the face of the Earth. Personally, I prefer to embrace and protect what we have now vs. imagining some sort of guilt-free future lived “into the stars.”